Chapter 558

Seeing his mother and sister-in-law busy in the small kitchen, Ye Xiaotian couldn't help saying, "Mother, today is the New Year's Eve. Why are you steaming so many steamed buns? It's the fifth drawer. Didn't you say that steamed buns would only be steamed on the 26th? "

"Go away. Get out. What do you know? We steamed too few steamed buns on the 26th. Now that you are back, we have more money. We have to make up for it for good luck! "Madame Dou explained while kicking Ye Xiaotian out of the kitchen.

Twenty-four, sweep the house. Twenty-five, paste the windows. Twenty-six, steam the steamed buns. At the end of the year, every family was like this. The Ye Family was especially lively this year. Usually, the house was small and people were afraid of gathering together. But when it came to the New Year's Eve, no one would feel good if the house was empty. So, the more lively, the better.

Shuanzhu ran around the house with the candies his uncle bought for him in his pocket. From time to time, he ran to the offering table and secretly grabbed a handful of candies. In fact, the adults all saw it, but they just pretended not to see it. So, Shuanzhu, who thought he had succeeded, ran away happily.

Both the common people and the emperor celebrated the New Year. The emperor usually ate and slept separately. He was absolutely alone. No wonder the emperor had to be lonely. But on the New Year's Eve, he had to eat with his concubines.

The next day, the emperor would worship the Altar of Heaven, receive hundreds of officials to congratulate him, participate in all kinds of festive ceremonies, and have dinner with the princes and grandsons that night.

But Emperor Wanli was still very young. He didn't have any grandsons, but he had a few princes and princesses. The oldest was only five or six years old. They had to be accompanied by their mothers and nannies to have dinner with their emperor father.

On the second night of the New Year, Ye Xiaotian, who had been busy with his father for two days, finally had a good reason to be free. He ran to the gate of the palace early and waited to attend the Spring Festival Gala. These two days were not for New Year's greetings. They were simply to show off with Grandpa Ye.

His son was so successful that his father was indescribably happy. Taking advantage of the New Year's greetings, he even wanted to visit his distant relatives and old friends who he hadn't contacted for more than ten years. Just to let people know that his son had become an official, a very, very big official, and even the emperor had seen him!

Ye Xiaotian rushed to the gate of the palace and found that many officials had arrived before him, which made him quite surprised. In fact, when the emperor was watching the play, only the important ministers had their seats arranged. The other people all shared a bench and the seats were not fixed.

Therefore, the experienced officials all came early to line up, not just to watch the show, but to be closer to the Emperor so that they would have more opportunities to show their faces. Ye Xiaotian was dressed in the robes of an official, and he stood out among the crowd of high-ranking officials. No one knew why such a lowly official would be here.

But there were always some well-informed people in the crowd. They told others., and soon, his identity was spread., and soon, he. The royal family, the relatives of the emperor, the meritorious ministers, the officials, and the foreign guests. Ye Xiaotian was not one of them. He was the only chieftain present who had "jumped out of the five elements".

He couldn't blend in with any of the groups, so he could only stand there alone. In reality, Assistant Minister Lin had already seen him, but he did not beckon him over to join his camp. It was better to keep their relationship a secret. There was no need to make it known to everyone.

When it was almost time, a eunuch rushed out to lead the officials into the palace. When they arrived at the Imperial Theater, they grabbed a seat and sat down. They saw that the theater was decorated with red ribbons and lanterns as bright as day. In front of them was a stage. At this time, the emperor had not arrived yet. Everyone was chatting with their friends.

Ye Xiaotian didn't know anyone and sat alone for almost an hour. Finally, he saw thirty or forty eunuchs rush into the pear garden. The garden immediately quieted down. Everyone knew that the emperor was about to arrive. Immediately after, screens, silk barriers, bright yellow tables, chairs, and curtains began to be laid out one by one.

At this time, the imperial entourage finally arrived. The palace attendants, Han generals, and Imperial Bodyguards escorted the emperor to the main grandstand. The palace maids came forward to serve tea and to prepare towels. It was a bustling scene. Ye Xiaotian raised his head to take a look. He saw that there was only the emperor on the grandstand but no empress. He thought, "I'm afraid the emperor and empress are not very harmonious!"

On this occasion, the emperor should have brought the empress with him to enjoy the show with the other imperial relatives and high-ranking officials. But Emperor Wanli did not have any feelings for this empress. The current empress was surnamed Wang. She was originally a palace maid in the palace of Emperor Wanli's mother, the Li family.

When Emperor Wanli was sixteen years old, he was aroused and had sex with her. At that time, she was only thirteen years old. Emperor Wanli only had sex with her to relieve his desire. He did not have any feelings for her. After the deed was done, he did not even give her a keepsake.

Who would have thought that this palace maid Wang would live up to his expectations? As soon as they met in the golden wind and jade dew, she was pregnant. After a few months, she gradually became pregnant. Empress Dowager Li saw her and asked for the reason. Empress Dowager Li was also a palace maid and naturally sympathized with Wang shi. She also wanted to hold a grandson so she immediately found her son.

At the beginning, Wan Li didn't want to admit it, but Empress Dowager Li took the [Notes on Internal Daily Activities] and found that it clearly recorded the time and place of his sexual intercourse with Wang's palace maid. Wan Li really couldn't deny it, so he pinched his nose and admitted Wang shi, making her Gong Fei.

After a few months, Wang shi gave birth to a fat son. This was the eldest son of the Emperor. With Empress Dowager Li's support, Gong Fei rose to the sky in one step and became the Empress who was the mother of the world. But the relationship between the husband and wife was really ordinary. The foreign officials had heard of this and were not surprised to see only the Emperor appear.

Once the Emperor arrived, the show began. Ye Xiaotian sat in the crowd and found that the Emperor was excitedly watching the show and did not have any intentions of paying attention to him. He found that he had thought too highly of himself before.

Because he had left a good impression on the Emperor the last time he had entered the palace and then presented the gift he had carefully prepared, he had thought that the Emperor would display a very high regard for him when they met this time. Thus, he had carefully prepared and prepared a set of words.

Who would have thought that when he arrived, he found that the Emperor did not care about him at all. He was sitting too far away. Looking up, the hall was full of red and purple. Any official could be picked out and their position would be higher than his. Ye Xiaotian couldn't help but feel hopeless. How could he leave a deep impression on the Emperor?

As the uncle of the present Emperor, Li Guojiu sat very close to the Son of Heaven. The people to his left and right were all relatives of the Emperor. Li Guojiu casually chatted with the people around him and occasionally glanced at Ye Xiaotian, his eyes dark.

Ye Xiaotian did not notice that Li Xuancheng was also present, but Li Xuancheng had been staring at him since he entered the city. He naturally knew that he was indebted to the Emperor and had the honor of attending today's meeting. A hand came over from the side and slowly filled his half-empty cup. Li Xuancheng glanced to the side and met the gaze of the person pouring the wine, exchanging a look without anyone noticing.

The person pouring the wine was Xu Boyi. He had been transferred to the Department of Rites by Li Guojiu. Of course, in the Department of Rites, he was just a servant that served tea and water to the Great Eunuch. However, he was talented. If he could enter the eyes of a Great Eunuch, he would immediately soar.

Moreover, in the Department of Rites, he had many opportunities to come into contact with the Son of Heaven. Perhaps one of his memorials would be to the Son of Heaven's liking and he would be transferred to serve the Son of Heaven. As a result, Li Guojiu and the others created countless opportunities for him. Since he had given them peaches, he had to return the favor. Moreover, Ye Xiaotian was also someone he had to get rid of.

The two of them exchanged a look in tacit understanding and Xu Boyi quietly withdrew. The Emperor was very happy to hear the singing on the stage. After the performance was finished, he said in a clear voice: "Today, we will enjoy the festivities together. Dear ministers, if you have any talent, why don't you demonstrate it on the spot? How about it?"

The ministers whispered to each other. Someone stood up and cupped his hands in salute: "Your Majesty, this subject was inspired by today's grand occasion and thought of a few lines of poetry. I would like to present …"

The Emperor waved his hand disinterestedly and said: "Ah! As for poetry, forget about it. Poetry, calligraphy, and painting, I don't want anything to do today. If I want to help the mood of the wine, I have to do it lightly and casually. I wonder which minister is good at singing and dancing. How about you demonstrate it in front of everyone? "

As soon as the Emperor asked this question, there were so many people in the garden that it was completely silent. In fact, many of the ministers would also hum songs and sing operas in their spare time. But in their hearts, this kind of thing was good for self-entertainment, but it was not elegant. Only something as elegant as poetry, calligraphy, and painting could be brought out in style. As a dignified official of the imperial court, how could he sing in front of so many people? How could that be!

The Emperor saw that no one responded to his words and couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. At this time, a white-haired and white-bearded civil official coughed lightly. Relying on his age and seniority, he stood up and added fuel to the fire: "Your Majesty is precious, do not be frivolous!"

Emperor Wanli flew into a rage. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Nonsense! Using poetry and singing to entertain the wine, and using dance and opera to entertain the wine, is there any difference, my virtuous gentlemen, hmm? "

These words were spoken so heavily that the old civil official choked and stared blankly.

In reality, the Emperor of Heaven Wanli was not someone who would fly into a rage over such a small matter, but this matter of singing opera had left him with a painful memory. It was when Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao were still on the throne. Once, the Emperor drank a bit of wine and had a little eunuch sing an opera to cheer him up.

That little eunuch did not know how to sing, so Wanli said that he was disobeying the imperial edict. Relying on his drunkenness, he used a sword to cut off a lock of his hair, saying it was to replace his head. There was nothing in the Palace, big or small, that Zhang Juzheng did not know. Naturally, this matter also quickly reached his ears.

If the young Emperor did not learn well, how could this be acceptable? The responsible Grand Secretary Zhang immediately entered the Palace and presented a memorial to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager always listened to Grand Secretary Zhang's words. The young Emperor was summoned to kneel for half a day, and only after reviewing himself with tears streaming down his face did he pass.

Now, Zhang Juzheng was already dead, Feng Bao had been sent to Nanjing, and the Holy Empress Dowager was also standing to the side. Wanli was already personally governing and was no longer the young Emperor of the past. He only wanted to make the festive atmosphere a bit more intense, but he had not expected the officials to raise the matter to such an extent. It immediately evoked that humiliating scene in his heart.

The deeper one suppressed it, the stronger the backlash. "Now that Zhang Juzheng is no longer in this world, do you still want to coerce me, the Emperor of Heaven?" Thinking of this, Emperor Wanli's eyes became a bit red. He sneered angrily and said, "If we want to share in the joy of the ministers, then we are an incapable ruler, and that is frivolous, isn't that right?"

Seeing the Emperor so angry, the ministers all felt their hearts tremble. Ye Xiaotian was overjoyed. The opportunity had finally come! The reason he had returned to the capital this time was to fight for the legitimate position of Chieftain. Once he obtained the position of Chieftain, he would be able to display his skills when he returned!

At that time, it would be very difficult to say if any news would reach the Emperor's ears. At this time, the Emperor's impression of him would largely determine the attitude the Emperor would adopt toward him in the future. How could he just treat today's opportunity to watch a show with the Emperor?

Even if he wanted to make friends with someone like Assistant Minister Lin, he could not be in a hurry. He had to take things slowly and first settle Assistant Minister Lin. Then, through Assistant Minister Lin, he could make friends with even more people and gradually build up his network. However, the opportunity to curry favor with the Emperor was something that could only be encountered and not sought. This opportunity could not be missed, and it would not come again!

As for the fact that the civil officials would despise him because of this … it was useless! Ever since he had decided to become a member of the Chieftain and pretend to be a harmless country bumpkin, he had already been despised by others. Even a little more despise was something he could endure with his strong mentality.

Ye Xiaotian immediately left his seat and quickly rushed forward two steps. In a loud voice, he said, "This subject usually likes to sing. Today, Your Majesty and the ministers are celebrating the new year together. This subject is willing to sing a piece to cheer Your Majesty and the ministers!"